It is somewhat strange the way colonies of insects work, but I feel weird considering them a single organism, as almost all ecosystems behave similatly on some level.
Considering them a single organism is indeed a pretty bad analogy from what I understand. Another common analogy is a society where only a select few are able to breed, but that's not really much better. Ants are ants, I guess.
This might be /iamverysmart/ or /stonerphilosophy/ material (and before I proofed it it definitely was) but I've been thinking about the difference between known and unknown unknowns, and the differences between them. I
know, for example, that I don't really know what string theory is, only what it's called. But if I wanted to, I could decide to dedicate some time to learning about it, and then I would know it. But there are also things that I don't know, but don't
realize that I don't know. I could, for example, investigate string theory, and find out that it's not actually real, and that physicists just made it up so they can filter out people who talk about it unironically. But that is conceivable to me (if unlikely) so does that make it a known unknown? To truly be an unknown unknown would I need to not even be able to formulate a thought on the subject - like when I was a very young child and the idea that everything I consciously interact with is made of the protons, neutrons, and electrons was so outside of my frame of reference I literally never could have thought to even ask?
And I know that there must be things like that. Most religions, and mine is no exception, have at least some means of acknowledging the concept. And even if I choose to ignore theology, I know of a whole ton of formerly unknown unknowns that I now know, or at least know I don't know. I have no reason to believe that I have finished tracing the outline of all creation
now, and that all I need to do at this point is fill in the details. It's neat to think about, that in time I might know things like the back of my hand that are right now basically an out of context problem for me. It definitely puts the phrase 'broadening your horizons' into a very interesting perspective.